Colby-Bates-Bowdoin at Messalonskee PAC March 2

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At 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 2, at the Messalonskee Performing Arts Center in Oakland, instrumental ensembles from Colby, Bates and Bowdoin colleges will present a free concert of band music.

This is the first tri-college band festival in recent memory, and organizers hope it becomes an annual event. Conductors are Colby’s Eric Thomas, John Neal from Bates and Bowdoin’s John Morneau. The public is invited, and “we’re especially encouraging local high school and junior high school students who may be interested in applying to one of our three colleges to come listen,” Thomas said.

Highlights of the concert will include “Voyage Through the Night” by the Bates band; “A Movement for Rosa,” a tribute to Rosa Parks by the Bowdoin group; and Colby’s “A+,” a piece that speculates how music might sound if musicians settled for a 97-percent accuracy rate.

Colby’s band will perform the theme from the movie Psycho, “Fortress” by Frank Ticheli and “El Capitan” by John Philip Sousa. Bowdoin’s group will perform “A Festival Prelude” by Alfred Reed and “The Florentiner” (Italian Grand March) by Julius Fucik. Bates will perform “Espana Cani,” “Shenandoah,” “Voyage Through The Night,” “American Civil War Fantasy” and “His Honor.”